Sunday, August 24, 2014

Seriously, this may be the best thing I've ever cooked, as in I might as well pack up and never cook again because it's not going to get better than this slider. Hot fried green tomatoes, spicy seared shrimp, sweet bread & butter pickles, tangy remoulade, and vinegar-y Crystal hot sauce on buttery mini Kaiser rolls.

Y'all. Don't. Even. Know.

I'm in a slight slider haze, but I'll try to pull it together and share some highlights of my day:

The Dale City Farmers Market was a complete cluster this morning. I've never seen it that busy in all my years in the area. Apparently eleven in the morning is the golden hour of the farmers market.

There was a Celtic violinist playing classical and contemporary music next to the big peach stand. She started playing “Let It Go” from Frozen and a lady with two young children rushed past me saying, “Oh dear lord, I need to get out of here before these two start singing.” I laughed so hard I knocked over a pile of peaches.

“My grandmother, she lived in southern Virginia, she had eleven children. Eleven children! Times was tough back then, especially when you had to feed eleven children. She baked a mess of biscuits three times a day. Four of them never moved away, probably because of those biscuits.”

I could have stayed there and talked to him for ages—he probably would have been just fine with that—but the lady standing behind me looked harried and grumpy. What kind of crazy lady gets grumpy at eleven in the morning holding a pint of baby eggplant, I'll never know.

Green tea with mint and seared Carolina shrimp

me: I'm at the farmers market. I'm going to make fried green tomato and shrimp sliders.

1. Heat about an inch of vegetable oil in cast iron skillet over medium heat.

2. Blot tomato slices with paper towel. Season with salt and pepper. Dredge in flour, or Korean frying mix (which is basically flour + cornstarch) and shake off excess flour. Dip in egg mixture and then roll in panko bread crumbs with paprika.

3. Fry in batches, about two-three minutes each side, until brown and crispy.

4. Let drain/dry on wire rack until all tomatoes are fried.

for the remoulade:

1/2 cup of mayonnaise. I use Duke's, it's the best.

1/4 cup of spicy whole grain mustard

1 Tbsp. sweet paprika

1 tsp. prepared horseradish

1 Tbsp. pickle juice - I used bread & butter pickle juice, but I imagine a spicy dill pickle juice would also be tasty.

1/2 lb of large shrimp. Mine were South Carolina shrimp. I don't really have a preference of shrimp origin, that's just where they were from.

1 Tbsp olive oil

S & P

1/4 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp Old Bay seasoning

1/4 tsp cayenne powder

1. Peel & devein shrimp and place in bowl. Add other ingredients and use hands to mix until shrimp are well seasoned.

2. Heat a stove-top grill pan over medium heat. Grease with oil or butter. Once hot, sear shrimp on each side until just cooked. Try not to overcook the shrimp. They're like eggs, they'll cook a little bit more once you remove them from the heat, so it's ok if they're slightly translucent when you take them off the heat. Set aside until slider time.

Enjoy with mint tea, cider, or a cold beer. Weep a little bit because it's so delicious. Text everyone in the inner circle proclaiming that you'll never cook again because it's never going to be as good as this.

That time Steph and I went to RVA and had amazing pimento cheese, cocktails, and good ol' Appalachian-southern fare at Comfort in Jackson Ward. The struggle was real walking back to the hotel, I can tell you that much. I also think that was the day I was running on two-three hours of sleep so combined with all the comfort food—yeah I went there—I basically passed out before eleven pm. It was the best. Much thanks to Chef Travis Milton, especially for them pickles and that vinegar pie the next day. Trip was back in June. I'm incredibly behind on my photo editing/uploading.

Charles Bukowski. Uncensored. from Quoted on Vimeo.
In 1993, candid conversations between Charles Bukowski, his wife, and his producer took place in Bukowski’s home during the recording session for his classic Run With the Hunted.

tastes like: Fried green tomatoes straight from the garden. The tomatoes, not the frying, though game over if someone invents a fried tomato plant. Do you remember the hot dog tree in Big Top Pee-Wee? Shoot, that just might be my favorite part of that movie, second to when Winnie threw the egg salad sandwiches into the creek when she caught Pee Wee macking on Gina. Figures my favorite scenes would involve food.

feels like: I need to move (oh, that might be a thing, hopefully no more of this hour commute nonsense - we'll see what happens), I need to start a website (remember when I was talking about that last year? Me too.), and I just need to get shit done.

smells like: summer rain.

photo via somewhere in the tumblrsphere. I want a flatfile in my studio!

Sunday, August 10, 2014

I recently passed the two year mark of being with Eat Good Food Group. It's been a crazy couple of years, let me tell you. On second thought, let me not tell you. We've gone through the making of Chef's cookbook, to losing a restaurant and what about that time I carried a salmon around the streets of Alexandria for a photo shoot? It's been a total blast, even when the chefs are angry, and I've said the same phrase for three hours - Good evening! Tonight you're having a sashimi of tuna with a soy-yuzu vinaigrette and pickled daikon! - and my phone is a veritable motherboard, constantly lighting up with tweets and notifications.

Things I've said repeatedly: Can I borrow you for a photograph? Can you make me that cocktail? Chef, where do the quince come from? What's in that dish? Is that from Path Valley Farms? How do you spell that farmer's name? What do you want on the flyer - when do you need that flyer? Did you change your password? DID YOU GOOGLE IT? Oh man, that one.

Big thanks to my restaurant family, past and present, I love and appreciate you all. Thanks for tolerating me and allowing me to show the world your work.

Here's to a few more years at EGFG, before I take over the world, Pinky.